Danusia Samal wins 2018 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award

Actor, writer and singer Danusia Samal has been announced the winner of the 2018 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award.

Samal will receive £6,000 and her winning script, Out of Sorts, will be produced at the London venue in 2019.

The winner was announced at a ceremony at the Bridge Theatre in London on November 22, hosted by Theatre503 chair and Royal Shakespeare Company deputy artistic director Erica Whyman, and Theatre503 artistic director Lisa Spirling.

Out of Sorts, which is about a young woman who is struggling with dual identity, was chosen by a panel of judges from a shortlist of five plays.

The other shortlisted plays were Milk and Gall by Mathilde Dratwa, Meat by Gillian Greer, In That Short Space by Joel MacCormack, and Before Evening Comes by Philana Imade Omorotionmwan.

In total, there were more than 2,000 entries from 49 different countries for the competition, which is open to anyone who has not yet had a full-length play produced professionally in a subsidised London or major regional or international venue for a minimum run of four weeks.

Whyman said: “From a very fine shortlist of impressively urgent and inventive plays, Out of Sorts touched the judges deeply.

“It is a delicate, intelligent, funny and profoundly revealing play that tackles one of the central questions of our time – how to be all the parts of ourselves without falling apart.”

Samal told The Stage: “This play is really close to my heart, so to have it acknowledged like this feels immense and the commitment to having it staged is really exciting.”

Theatre503 also announced its latest season alongside the award, with highlights including Ross Willis’ Wolfief and Yasmin Joseph’s J’Ouvert, which explores the black British experience and sexual politics of carnival.

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